Referring to Yonezu Kenshi, people often think of the tall musician, his messy hair falling to hide his sad eyes, piercing ears, and the owner of a series of hit songs on Billboard Japan. He himself composed and wrote songs that have strange and catchy melodies. And the lyrics are condensed with layers of meaning. These things make him different from the trendy Idols and at the top of the pop music industry for years. In this article, let’s learn about Kenshi Yonezu album and his life with Janbox.
I/ Biography
Yonezu Kenshi (born on March 10, 1991) is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter, music producer, and illustrator. As a child, Yonezu found it difficult to communicate with others, especially his father. Yonezu often felt that only her mother understood him.
Yonezu once said, he doesn’t want to be the type of person who rejects the past even though the past is full of unhappy things. As a child, he was a quiet boy, without friends, hated school, lived in a world of imagination, and loved to draw.
Whilein high school, Yonezu was impressed by the strong style and fiery music of Bump of Chicken, Asia Kung-Fu Generation, and Spitz – three famous Japanese rock groups of the 1990s. He bought a 20,000 yen guitar (the lowest price at that time) and together with his classmates formed a band called Ofrogue. At the school’s cultural festival, Ofrogue plays the card “Pain” composed by Yonezu. For the first time in its history, his school had the opportunity to enjoy a “very pure” song (in the words of Yonezu) written by an eighth-grader.
At the age of eighteen, he moved to Osaka and enrolled in the School of Fine Arts. One day, intrigued by the virtual singer Hatsune Miku, who was “singing beautifully like a real person”, he was curious to buy the software and step by step entered the Vocaloid world under the stage name Hachi.
Starting to produce Vocaloid, he seems to forget everything around. He spends 15 hours a day on composing, graphic design, and video design, regularly uploading to Niconico Douga 3 posts a month. The rest of the time he just eats and sleeps until his parents are scared. Hachi’s songs are loved for their special music and surreal abstract drawings. Currently, he has composed 20 Vocaloids, some of which have attracted a lot of views and are also covered by other singers on Niconico.
II/ Kenshi Yonezu’s albums
1. Diorama
In 2012, Yonezu Kenshi debuted with the album “Diorama” presented with his genuine deep voice. This is the first album by Japanese musician Kenshi Yonezu, released on May 16, 2012. It is the first studio album released under his real name, and the first to use vocals. as opposed to his Vocaloid album released under the name Hachi. Some of the popular Kenshi Yonezu Diorama songs are Machi, Go Go Yūreisen, Toy Patriot, Vivi, etc.
He began planning Diorama in 2010 and took a year and a half to complete the album. Yonezu did not collaborate with other musicians on the album, as he felt at the time was not a good communicator. Yonezu considers the lyrics of “Vivi” to be the closest to her own feelings. The song “Machi” was originally titled “Furu Asa”, and the lyrics were included in a blog post by Yonezu on March 16, 2011.
Yonezu drew all of the illustrations in the booklet herself, including the cover. He painted the catfish in the style that they were drawn in Edo period Japan. He is also the illustrator for the “Go Go Yūreisen” and “Vivi” videos that were uploaded to Nico Nico Douga and YouTube to promote the album. The art for the album was inspired by the art of Edward Gorey, and remained black and white as he found the coloring tedious.
2. Yankee
Yankee is the second studio album by Japanese artist Kenshi Yonezu and his fourth. The album was released on April 23, 2014, with its first live performance on June 27, 2014. It was selected by iTunes as the best album of 2014.
The album includes the songs “Mad Head Love”, “Hyakki Yakō”, and “Santa Maria” from the two singles released prior to the album, as well as 12 unpublished tracks. The version of “Santa Maria” featured on Yankee was re-recorded with different vocals from the single version. The majority of the album was recorded in January and February 2014.
“Hyakki Yakō” was the first song written for the album in mid-2013, and was Yonezu’s attempt to write a song with a lot of effort. He didn’t feel the satirical lyrics were suitable for a debut single, so he created “Santa Maria” shortly after. “Santa Maria” and “Hyakki Yakō” are Yonezu’s first times working on music with a live band. Yonezu considers “Santa Maria” an important song, as it was performed in an uncertain period of what to do in the music that followed.
“Mad Head Love” was later written in 2013 which wrote about Yonezu’s feelings while composing music and took the theme of the song as “communication friction.” Mad Head Love “was written at the same time as another song, “Poppin’ Apathy”, and the two songs were based on the theme of the Mobius strip. Yonezu tried to write the song “Donut Hole” like a comic strip by Shōnen The song “Eine Kleine” was specifically written for Tokyo Metro and features lyrics about looking forward despite adversity.
Yonezu called the album Yankee in the original sense of a British immigrant to New England during the American Colonial era who, as a major label musician, felt like an “immigrant from the United States.” Internet”, or from the “island of Vocaloids
3. Bremen
Bremen is the third album by producer Kenshi Yonezu released on October 7, 2015. The title was inspired by Will-O-Wisp and the musicians of Bremen. “Will-O-Wisp depicts a scene that turns away from the light of a prosperous town and into the dark along a ruined highway.
Bremen’s musicians grow weary of their present place. They didn’t like living there anymore, so they said to go to Bremen and play there. But in the end The Musicians of Bremen never really made it to Bremen. Kenshi hoped to show that journey and progress are more important than the destination with the album. Some of Kenshi Yonezu Bremen songs are Will o’ Wisp, Unbelievers, Fluorite, Flowerwall, and so on.
4. Bootleg
Bootleg is Kenshi Yonezu’s fourth album, released on November 1, 2017. It is his first album with Sony Music and won Album of the Year at the 60th Japan Record Awards. August 30, 2017, is Hatsune Miku’s tenth anniversary, while Magical Mirai is a major Vocaloid concert organized by Crypton Future Media. Dune is one of Kenshi Yonezu bootleg songs, which Crypton Future Media invited Kenshi to write as Miku’s birthday song and theme song for Magical Mirai 2017. Miku’s version is featured in “Hatsune Miku” Magical Mirai 2017 “OFFICIAL ALBUM”, reaching No. 13 in Oricon.
While Kenshi himself covered the song in “Bootleg”. The song revisits the history of the Vocaloid and metaphors it as an expedition in the desert, which quickly goes viral in the Vocaloid fandom. Yonezu considered recommending the album Dune because he was confident that he could make good music and wanted to prove it to everyone. Then he decided to use Bootleg as the title.
“Dune” is the theme song for Magical Mirai 2017. About Kenshi Yonezu Bootleg anime, the song “Peace Sign” was used as the opening theme song for the second season of the My Hero Academia anime, and also the “Orion” song was used as the second ending of the March Comes in Like a Lion anime.
5. Stray Sheep
Stray Sheep is Kenshi Yonezu’s fifth album, released on August 5, 2020. The album’s name is inspired by the New Testament. This album contains 15 songs, including 6 songs from the latest single, and the songs used in the movie MIU404, the song Suda Masaki performed Machigai Sagashi (Lyrics, music, and production by Yonezu).
The LE version will have a DVD/Blu-ray featuring the music videos and performance videos of the Sekitsui ga Opal ni Naru Koro tour in Makuhari Messe. This marks the first time Yonezu has released a full live show.
The song “Kanden” was released on YouTube on July 10, 2020, and reached 10 million views in four days, breaking his own record. The album also sold a million copies within 10 days. In addition, the album reached number one in the J-Pop category in more than 30 countries on the iTunes Chart and reached number one in 54 countries according to the Apple Music Albums J-Pop Chart. And topped 20 All Genres categories in 22 Countries/Regions, 6 of which hit Number One.
Conclusion
With a unique art style, Kenshi Yonezu is gradually asserting his name not only with domestic audiences but also with the world with remarkable achievements. Thanks to his natural talent and constant striving, Yonezu will definitely go further on the artistic path he has chosen. To own Kenshi Yonezu albums, contact Janbox immediately for advice and support to order quickly and conveniently.
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